There have been posts asking people why they became a firefighter or an EMT and there have been some interesting reasons on why they are doing what they do. Well, here is how I decided to become an EMT and a firefighter.

My father was in the service. He used to tell me stories here and there about how he wanted to travel overseas, while some of his friends wanted to be stationed here in the States and stories of being a doctor in the service. As it turned out, my father was stationed here and he lost some of his friends who were stationed overseas. I never knew till recently what war he served in.

My father was a doctor, and served as a flight surgeon for the US Air Force until 1948. My father had a private practice in our home town and was highly respected and well liked in the community. In 1954 my father was appointed assistant county medical examiner for Dutchess County. He worked in the ER at two local hospitals in Poughkeepsie and one in Sharon, Connecticut.

There has always been some sort of medical practice in my life. I can remember going with my father to make house calls in the 1970s and early ‘80s, or going to a house and sitting in the car as my father went to confirm a death or check on a patient that couldn’t get to the office. There was even a day that my brother and I went and had to sit outside the morgue as my father performed an autopsy. Now there’s a smell you never forget!

My father was a deeply compassionate man, as well as a doctor; he was the last doctor in our area who made house calls. He would also often barter with his patients that could not afford the visit. We had a lot of vegetables, canned goods, baked goods and some work that needed to get done on the property. But that is what made him so special and memorable. All I ever wanted to do was be like him.

My mother was an RN and an EMT for our Rescue Squad. My Nanny (my mother’s mother) was an RN and did home healthcare for most of what I can remember. My stepmom is an RN and was an EMT with our Squad as well. I knew somewhere down the line I’d be in this field.

As a kid I vividly remember going on calls with my mom and sitting in the car and waiting for her to come back when she was done. Our evenings were often spent going to the Rescue Squad barn on a night of their drill and being a victim, and our Saturday mornings were often spent at the Firehouse while everybody did the clean up of the rigs and the barn. One note - this was a time you didn’t have to worry so much about leaving your kids in the car for a while. Boy, has THAT changed.

I wanted to be like either one of my parents; it didn’t matter if I was a doctor or a nurse. I wanted to be like them. I always thought like so many people even now that doctors, nurses and EMT’s could save anybody. I found how wrong that thinking was and is. I lost my mother due to a mental illness that as a child I didn’t know she had. Because of that illness, when I was nine years old, my mother committed suicide.

I woke up that night hearing our ambulance crew, along with my father, working very hard to save my mothers life…and not being able to. My father did what he had to do, as did the EMT’s and it was just not possible. Then, on July 4th 1984, when I was 17, my father lost his battle with cancer - and that was tougher than anything for me. I was always close with my dad and to lose him seemed so unfair. I woke up at 4AM the morning he passed, and knew that he was gone.

For many years I didn’t want to have anything to do with medicine ever again. In 2004, I decided to try to become an EMT. My stepmom has always been very supportive and when I told her I was taking my EMT class she was thrilled. She said that my dad would have been proud.

I became an EMT because it truly is a family tradition and we do make a difference. Do we save everybody? No. That’s life, and that may sound cruel, but it is the cold hard truth and what we do as EMT’s is at least give that person who needs help the comfort and care that they need for the time that we spend with them.

I have been an EMT for only 4 years as a volunteer and I just started working as a paid EMT. I wouldn’t trade it for anything; I get to try to help someone who is scared and hurting and make them feel a little better, even if it’s just by holding their hand or a kind word. Being an EMT takes a special person; you have to handle a lot of things that the normal person doesn’t. We see things that most people won’t ever see and just don’t understand.

Do I get frustrated on why some of the people do what they do? You bet. But I am here to hopefully help get them the help they need by getting them to the hospital. This is not a typical job and it can be very stressful. This is not for everyone, we are a special breed.

Firefighters are the same way. I have been a firefighter for 17 years and I started with being a firefighter to help my community. My favorite part is the Fire Prevention Team. Being able to teach little kids not to play with matches and fire, and how to help and know what to do in an emergency is a great feeling, and I love it when they see me in town and say, “Hey, you came to my school - you’re the firefighter lady!” That just makes me feel so good because I was able to make an impression…and a good impression at that.

This is a family and it is a great family to be a part of. I can honestly say that I will be a firefighter and an EMT till I can no longer physically do this job. And for any of you who are paid yes, I called even the volunteer part a job, because it is. Volunteers do the same job as paid personnel, and the only difference is that one gets paid and the other doesn’t.

It’s absurd to say that one is more important than the other…because in the eyes and minds of our communities, we are the same. We do the same job and we should work together and not put up walls and think that one is better than the other because we aren’t. We are all here for the same reason, and that is to help the people in the communities that we cover and serve.